Neither Microsoft nor StorSimple is sharing information about plans around future support of VMware. But Microsoft officials are saying that they will continue to work with other storage partners with both on-premises and cloud-integrated offerings, even after it acquires StorSimple.

"StorSimple’s differentiation is in their software intellectual property and their talent. While its appliance relies on standard hardware provided by a third party; there are no hardware engineers on its staff," said Michael Park, Corporate Vice President, Windows Server and Management Product Marketing Group, via an e-mailed statement. "Microsoft has a long history of partnering with storage OEMs and we believe the acquisition of StorSimple will create new partnering opportunities. "